6.5 Expenditure and expenditure restrictions guidelines

The Country Office Finance Department is responsible for providing the Team Leader and other Emergency Managers with an executive summary for each fund allocation, grant and contract.  This information should be explicit in terms of:

• allowed and disallowed expenditure
• duration of funding, including effective funding start and end dates
• reporting requirements and frequency
• budget line item flexibility, if any (or indicate if there is no flexibility)
• process for calling forward funds and process acquittal of contract funds (Who is responsible for the requisition of funds? What is the process to follow? What is the number of instalments?)
• any special requirements that may affect operations-for example:

• donor involvement in procurement bidding procedures
• unusual internal control requirements (special stamps, etc.)
• disbursement of funds tied to special conditions such as audits, reporting, etc.
• original receipts for all financial transactions are to be forwarded to the donor at the end of the project period (this affects how filing is done).

To the extent possible, this summary should not exceed 1-2 pages and existing Contract Review forms (Short List) should be attached. The Internal Audit Department should also be responsible for ensuring that any special requirements are interpreted, communicated and implemented correctly.